By Kyle Gann November 29, 2005

Music moves through repetition. Through music repetition moves. Repetition moves music through. Through repetition moves music. It's easier in notes than in words, but permutation is one of the ways in which time-based art can create variety within stasis, tickling the senses while maintaining a sense of centeredness. It was a technique favored not by the earliest minimalists but some who came just after: Tom Johnson, Jon Gibson, Barbara Benary. And now that we're going back over early minimalism with a magnifying glass, resuscitating all those marvelous pieces by Tony Conrad, Charlemagne Palestine, and even the late Julius Eastman (who, unbelievably, has a three-CD set out on New World this month, after fans had despaired that his music was lost), it's high time we turned a close ear to Benary, whose music was given a retrospective November 9 at... More >>>